Naturopathic Medicine

Naturopathic medicine is a unique approach to health that centers on treating the whole person rather than the disease. As Naturopathic Doctors, the doctors at Be Well Clinic are among the highest trained health practitioners in the field of natural medicine. 

There are a variety of treatment modalities employed by Be Well doctors to support your body on it’s journey back to health.  During the course of your care, your doctor may employ one or all of these methods in an attempt to support your body’s innate healing and detoxification mechanisms.

 

Naturopathic Treatment Modalities

Botanical Medicine: The use of plants as medicine is one of the more ancient forms of healing known to humankind. Botanical medicine is the use of plants to promote health and treat illness and imbalances in the body.

Clinical Nutrition: There is perhaps no more important therapy than diet. The nutritional choices we make are the single most controllable aspect of our health and is more accurately described as medicine we take 3 times a day. Our doctors offer individualized dietary assessments with concrete suggestions on ways to improve the type and quality of foods you are eating. They use state of the art laboratory testing to accurately identify your food allergies and sensitivities, and work to support your body and lifestyle as you learn to integrate suggested changes into your daily life.

Lifestyle Coaching: There are so many ways in which the world around us acts against our achievement of health and wellness. Our environment is no longer the pristine, natural resource it once was and as such, our body’s have to continually struggle in order to maintain balance. In any significant healing process there comes a point where we must choose to either change how we live and heal, or stay the same. When we awaken to what our body and mind need to heal, it changes our lives.

Clinical Detoxification: Numerous different protocols are available to help reduce some of the toxic burden inherent in today’s lifestyle.

Homeopathy: Based on the Hippocratic principle that ‘like cures like’, homeopathy is a powerful energetic form of medicine that matches the vibrational patterns of an individual with the most resonant homeopathic remedy.

Biotherapeutic drainage: A form of homeopathy, biotherapeutic drainage is a gentle yet very deep healing modality. Different than a cleanse or detoxification protocol, biotherapeutic drainage works much deeper, on both a cellular and energetic level to enhance the natural routes of elimination so proper functioning of cells, organs, and body systems can be restored.

More info about Naturopathic Medicine:

Naturopathic Principles

Naturopathic doctors use these 6 principles of naturopathic medicine as their guides:

1. First Do No Harm

2. Identify and Treat the Cause

3. Treat the Whole Person

4. The Body Has an Inherent Wisdom to Heal

5. Doctor as Teacher

6. Prevention is the Cure

Training and Licensure

Naturopathic doctors are required to attain a Bachelor’s degree and take pre-medical courses. They then complete a rigorous four-year medical degree program and are awarded a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine (ND). In addition to a standard medical curriculum, ND’s are required to complete training in natural and holistic therapies such as clinical nutrition, homeopathy, botanical medicine, hydrotherapy, and counseling. After passing national board exams, they are licensed to perform natural primary care medicine in a growing number of states.

Naturopathic Medicine in Minnesota

Governor Tim Pawlenty Expands Options for Natural Health Care Consumers in Minnesota: The Minnesota Association of Naturopathic Physicians and the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians applaud Governor Tim Pawlenty for signing HF 1724 on May 23, 2008, which allows naturopathic doctors to practice naturopathic medicine in the state of Minnesota. “This bill is a great victory for naturopathic doctors in Minnesota, but it’s an even bigger victory for health care consumers” said Leslie Vilensky, ND, and President of the Minnesota Association of Naturopathic Physicians. “Now Minnesotans know that when they seek out a naturopathic doctor, that doctor will have met the highest standards of the profession. We expect that having Minnesota recognize naturopathic doctors will make it easier for them to practice in the state, and will help meet consumer’ rising demand for natural, alternative health care.” Minnesota is now the 15th U.S. state to regulate the practice of naturopathic medicine. Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia, and the United States territories of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands have licensing laws for naturopathic doctors.